Leigh to lead Ireland on the road to London 2012 Olympics

CYCLING IRELAND have chosen Philip Leigh, a former Great Britain international, to plot the route to London 2012.

Leigh, who replaces Beijing Olympic Team Manager, Frank Campbell, as Director of High Performance, managed the powerful Kevin Dawson-Mark Lovett-John Tanner international team in the FBD Insurance Rás in 2002 when Ciaran Power won the individual title.

A native of Lancashire, he has worked with some of most talented riders in Britain including world champion Chris Newton, a two-time winner of Ireland’s showpiece and a medallist at both the Athens and Beijing Olympic Games.

He will be responsible for developing and managing Cycling Ireland’s High Performance plan, for managing high performance staff and for overseeing all activities in preparation for respective World Cup, World Championship and Olympic track, road and MTB events.

“We are delighted to appoint Philip as Cycling Ireland’s High Performance Director,” Geoff Liffey, Cycling Ireland executive officer, said. “He is considerably experienced in identifying new cycling talent and in putting organisational and support structures in place to ensure that elite athletes achieve success.

“He will develop a system which allows Cycling Ireland’s elite athletes to come in and out of the High Performance squad. Our goal is to increase the size of the cycling team competing at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and to focus specifically on achieving success on the track.”

“Cycling Ireland and the Irish Sports Council have set the goal of having at least one cyclist finish in the top 10 in a cycling event at the London 2012 Games. The Irish Sports Council is hugely supportive of our High Performance Programme and we are committed to working together to achieve our objectives,” Liffey added.

“I am very familiar with Irish cycling and I am greatly excited by the challenge. There is huge talent among the new generation of Irish cyclists and I have a clear vision of what needs to be done to develop their potential and to support their ambition,” Leigh said.

“We are certainly capable of bringing bigger teams to the London 2012 Olympics. Our indoor track riders are also capable of delivering at least personal best times and of qualifying to compete for medals and the talent is there to have riders finish inside the top 10 in road and MTB disciplines.”

He said one of his first goals in taking up his new position will be to put new structures in place to develop high performance coaches and to support elite athletes up to and beyond the 2012 Olympic Games. He also intends to assess and refine Cycling Ireland’s Talent Identification and Talent Transfer programmes.

Leigh’s appointment has also been welcomed by John Treacy, ISC chief executive, who said cycling was a key high performance sport with the potential to bring success to Ireland, especially with the track programme.